Man jailed after police crackdown on Derbyshire roads

Danielle Hayden

A Derbyshire man has been jailed for 18 weeks after he was caught driving whilst disqualified in a police operation.

Graham Shreeves, aged 43, of Bracken Close, Long Eaton, was caught by officers from the Long Eaton Safer Neighbourhood Team on Thursday, March 24.

This is part of a police operation to crack down on road traffic crime and offences by using Automatic Number Plate Recognition (ANPR) technology to identify suspicious vehicles being used in the area.

One such vehicle, a Citroen C4, was been driven by Shreeves, who was a disqualified driver at the time of the stop, and he therefore appeared at South Derbyshire Magistrates Court on Friday, April 8.

The magistrates heard that in June last year Shreeves had received a suspended sentence for drink-driving and so they jailed him for 10 weeks and he received a further eight weeks for driving whilst disqualified and no insurance.

He was also ordered to pay a £80 victim surcharge and was disqualified from driving for a further 12 months. Officers seized the vehicle under Section 165 of the Road Traffic Act.

PC James Crookall from the team said: “We run these operations as we are very much aware that there are sections of the community that use vehicles to commit crime.

“We also know that some people are prepared to use vehicles when they are disqualified and subsequently with no insurance which is dangerous to other road users.

“The ANPR gives us access to intelligence held on certain vehicles and drivers, this then allows us to target our resources accordingly.

“In this case we were pleased that our actions stopped this individual from driving whilst disqualified and without insurance and he will, hopefully now be able to reflect on his actions.”

You can follow the work of the Long Eaton Safer Neighbourhood team on Twitter @LongEatonSNT